motherly
My grandniece, Brooklyn Killinger is such a sweet little girl, and she is growing up so fast. Today, she officially hit the double digits in age, reaching the age of 10 years. While she is growing up, she is still a little girl, and as such, she loves her dolls. In reality, the dolls are probably an interim replacement for the real thing. Brooklyn loves babies, and while she plays with her dolls, she would much rather have the “real” thing when it comes to babies. It helps that she has a baby cousin…Maya Stevens, because while Maya lives in Sheridan and Brooklyn lives in Casper, she gets to see her quite a bit, and when she does, everyone else might just as well understand that Brooklyn will be holding Maya as much as is humanly possible. In fact, I’m told by her bonus mom, Lacey Stevens, that Brooklyn is “still obsessed with Maya.” She will let her little brother, Jaxon Killinger hold Maya, but he must understand that she will be supervising this process and giving him pointers on how to properly hold a baby. So, Jax has to get used to hearing things like, “make sure you hold her like this” or “you’re not doing it right.” She’s very motherly, and Jax is a pretty good sport about it…understanding that being motherly is her thing. It’s super cute, and it helps that Maya seems to be obsessed with her too. Maya doesn’t let a lot of people hold her, but Brooklyn is always allowed to hold her, and that is totally ok with both of the girls.
Brooklyn really does love babies, and since she can’t always be with Maya, she chooses to improvise, by giving her dolls the very best of care. Brooklyn has two baby dolls that she treats like real babies. The dolls are named Navy and Seth. Brooklyn has car seats, highchairs, and strollers for them. She gets up to get ready for school, but she needs to be up in time to allow for feeding them before she leaves and making sure they are set for their day before she leaves. She is just a loving and motherly toward her little brother, Jaxon. Like all siblings, she sometimes gets annoyed with him, but she does not get overly angry or speak harshly to him. That is just not in her nature. She is a sweetheart who is so kind and gentle.
For the Memorial Day weekend, Brooklyn’s dad, Chris Killinger, took the family to Denver. They are having a 
wonderful time. It is the very first visit to Denver for Brooklyn and Jaxon, and as a very cool sidenote, her first visit included her birthday. Chris and Lacey took the kids to the Denver Zoo, and they had a great time seeing all of the animals. Brooklyn liked the elephants, but she was a little bit scared of them too. They are, after all huge!! Thankfully, there was a safety divider between the elephants and the people. I’m sure that…and the ice cream…eased Brooklyn’s jitters a little bit. Nevertheless, she was pretty wide eyed while they were watching the elephants. They are having lots of fun, and I’m sure she will have lots to tell everyone about all the animals they saw, and I’m sure Chris and Lacey have lots more super fun plans for the weekend. Today is Brooklyn’s 10th birthday. Happy birthday Brooklyn!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
My granddaughter, Shai was not always a fan of her little brother. Like many older siblings, she often wished that she had been an only child. Of course, many kids wish that when their younger sibling comes along. They get less attention, and they have to share their toys. Sometimes, it’s because the new baby cries a lot, as was partly the problem for Shai…at least until Caalab started teasing her, as brothers often do to their sisters. Early on though, Shai liked her little brother…except when he was crying. Then she wished her parents could somehow send him back where he came from.
Being a girl, Shai has a motherly side, but not so much when it comes to her brother. As far as she is concerned, brothers are best when they are seen and not heard, and the less seen the better. In fact, never coming out of his room is a pretty good idea, since she can’t send him back where he came from. Of course, Caalab has an entirely different view of things. Girls are for picking on, and they should take it with a smile. She is welcome to have her door closed when she is getting dressed, but all other times of the day should be open season on his sister. My guess is that by now, you can see the problem these two had.
Of course, much has changed as they have grown older, and most of the time they get along well…provided Caalab keeps his teasing to a tolerable level, but as little kids, it was a different story. Shai tried everything to shut her brother out, since hearing him at all annoyed her. Covering her ears didn’t always work very well, and closing her door wasn’t any better. Finally, she hit on the perfect plan. She would borrow her grandpa’s ear muffs, that he used when mowing the lawn to protect his ears. She figured that since they were powerful enough to block out most of the lawn mower’s noise, they should work on her little brother. And, I suppose it would have worked too, except for the simple fact that they only blocked out sound. Her little brother was still there. I’m sure glad that those days were short lived, because otherwise, I might only have two grandsons, instead of three.
